Laura Carlson writing her mother when she was about five months pregnant with me.

 

                                                                  6900 W. Colfax Apt. 2

                                                                  Denver 15, Colorado

                                                                  Aug 1, 1944

Dear Mother,

            It is August already.  I haven’t heard from anyone for over a week and have supposed that you all must be busy putting up fruit.  I’m out sitting under the trees trying to write.  I’ve got 10 pints of string beans on the stove boiling & the house is so hot we can’t go in.  We went out to Jeppsons last night, the couple who are moving to Texas, & they gave us a large box of beans.  We were surely happy to get them.  They gave us a sack of carrots too.  Mr. Jeppson has been in Texas 2 weeks & hasn’t found a place for his family to live so He is just going to leave them here until he finds a place which he thinks may be 2 months.  So even tho they decide to rent it won’t be soon.

            We were paid a week ago yesterday & are almost broke.  We bought 2 cases of raspberries. I got 15 qts & 16 qts of apricots with 4 pints of apricot jam.  I put some raisins in it & one of those small jars of orange marmalade, & it tastes very good.  It is better than putting pineapple in it.  We went & picked 35 lbs of pie cherries at one of the church members place.  People by the name of Warnick from Pleasant Grove who knew Carlsons well.  Mrs. Warnick uses the cherries like we do the sweet cherries by pitting them.  The pits make the cherries bitter.  I got 8 qts fresh 7 pints for pies & 6 pints of jam.  She also gave me rhubarb & I got 14 pints of it.  The rhubarb here isn’t harvested until August & Sept & is great big red stocks.  It is just as sweet & tender as it can be.  All in all I had a busy week last week.

            Alvin is all well again & we have had much better weather.  His hearing returned gradually as his ears cleared.  I found out last night that Dr. Barber who we had for Alvin is from Salt Lake & is a Mormon.  His wife is head of the Primaries here.  The Dr. isn't very active but I suppose it is because he is so busy.  He only takes children.

            I have decided to go to Dr Clyde Cooper.  Wanda Walker has had him for 4 of her children, & almost every one at church goes to him.  Wanda is going with me Fri.  Harold went out of town again this morning & won’t be home until Thurs. or Fri evening.  It surely takes all we've got for these trips of his.  I’ll be glad when the government starts paying us back.

            I’m just so happy we have been able to put up so much fruit.  It isn’t hard to put it up here either even tho our place is small.  We have plenty of hot water & the gas cooks things quickly.  I’m going to put up some corn when it comes on.  People here put up more vegetables than fruit because fruit is so hard to get.

            It is 12 noon & I’ll have to get lunch & take the beans off the stove.  I just finished making a small doilee for Christmas.  Even with all the fruit last week I had time to make it.  I am certainly not over worked in this small place.

            Write soon & tell Pearl to write too.

                        Lovingly, Laura

                                    & family

The flies are getting bad

            Is there any chance of you mailing some clothes hangers to us.  I took all of ours out of that box & put them in the closet in the north room.  We only have 6 that we did manage to put in the trunk.  I’ll send some stamps to cover it when I go to the post office.  I am nearly out now.